The invention relates to beach towels that are adapted to cover a lawn chair and more particularly towels that have a hood portion which cover the head portion of a lawn chair where the body of the towel can be stored in the hood portion and straps are provided to carry the towel.
Towels have been used to cover lawn chairs so that sunbathers do not have to come in direct contact with the upper surface of a lawn chair. Often times conventional towels are used to cover lawn chairs for comfort and sanitation reasons. When a sunbather is lounging in a lawn chair, generally the head portion of the lawn chair is in a partial vertical position (20 to 70 degrees). One of the common problems with conventional towels is that the head portion of the towel will not remain positioned on the head portion of the lawn chair. Therefore the head portion of a conventional towel continuously falls exposing the upper surface of the lawn chair to the individual.
The prior art devices has attempted to provide lawn chair covers that have a hood portion which is adapted to be positioned on the head portion of a lawn chair. However, the prior art has failed to illustrate a simplified design where the lawn chair cover is made from a unitary length of material. Further, many of the prior art devices have a portion that is rigid or a portion that cannot go through a washing machine. This prevents prior art lounge chair covers from being machine washable.
A search of the patent literature has a number of patents directed toward the problems of covering a lounge chair, these being the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,380 Silvestri, shows a beach towel/chair cover was along gates strip of towel with a pocket on one end to hold the towel portion therein. As seen in FIG. 2 the pocket 14 can hold the towel. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view indicating that there are to compartments in the towel bag 10. FIGS. 4 through 7 illustrate a method of manufacturing the towel 10. The staging 32 creates an upper portion hood that is adapted to fit on a lawn chair (see FIG. 1)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,028 Jones et al., shows a fitted sheet for a lounge chairs where both ends of the chair are covered by ends 42 and 44. FIG. 2 is almost an optical illusion because it is a bottom and rearward perspective view of the underside of the chair showing the pockets 50 and 52 over the end portions of the chair. FIG. 1 shows a top portion of the chair cover to with a top panel 40 of the fitted sheet 10.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,785 Duke, Jr. et al., shows a removable cover for a lounge chair that has a pillow 23 positioned under straps 22.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,670 Schluter, discloses a combination beach towel and robe. As seen in FIG. 4, the female places her head through slot 20 and cord 36 ties around her waist. As shown in FIG. 5, the flap 40 which is peripherally sewn to the edge of the fabric piece 14, is mounted on the chair 48
U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,568 Greer, shows a mattress with elastic border that has several loops to prevent slippage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,376 Keiswetter, shows a temporary cover for a car seat where there is a cap 20 mounted on the seat 12. The seat cover 10 is constructed from two different thermoplastic materials so the inner side it adheres to the seat and the outward side is relatively nonadhesive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,094 Greer, shows a covering for a lawn chair where at the upper end portion 48 there is a rear surface layer 56 that makes a hood which is adapted to fit over the upper portion of the chair. There are two lateral side pockets 64 and 66 which can hold personal belongings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,012 LaPorte, shows a beach mat that can fold up in a desirable manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,540 Pegram, has a beach towel and chair cover which has elastic straps on either ends to help keep the towel on the beach chair as seen in FIGS. 10a-11. The straps 12 are adapted to be positioned around corners of the chair 20.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,233 Lee, discloses a lounge chair cover where as seen in FIG. 3, there is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a pillow pocket 79 and a rear pocket 50 mounted over the head end border 40.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,353 Goddard, shows a lawn chair cover where FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional vertical view of the upper hood where flap 33 provides for a pocket portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,945 Aupperlee et al., shows a vehicle child seat cover where there is a fitting sleeve 5 that fits on the back of the seat portion 2.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,618,082 Jachmich, shows a one-piece seat cover that has a second opening 22 which serves as a hood to cover the upper portion of the seat R.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,229 Ledford, shows a lounge seat cover where in FIG. 5 there is a cross-sectional view showing the hood 2 over the head portion of the lawn chair. The pocket 34 is made from a netting material. In this patent there are lock clamps 58 and 62 attached to straps 56 and 60 that are apparently used to keep the lounge chair in a folded position to be carried.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,431 Horn shows a car vehicle seat that has a hood portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 where the external portion that is exposed to a driver is made of relatively low coefficient of friction material while the inner portion that is exposed to the seat is made from a higher coefficient of friction material (stickier).
The prior art fails to show a system with less structure and more functionality that is economical to produce and provide the options for at least one attachment strap having attachment ends connected to lateral regions of the hood portion and the attachment strap is adapted to carry the towel. The prior art further fails to disclose a towel that comprises a pouch portion and the head region of the towel with at least one strap adapted to carry the towel in the mobile configuration (the body of the towel folded into the chamber region of the pouch portion) and the same pouch is used for keeping the head portion of the towel attached to the upright portion of the chair.
A towel that is adapted to be mounted on a chair. The chair having an upright portion was corner regions, a front region and back region. The towel has a lengthwise body that comprises a main body which is the portion of the towel extending longitudinally from the pouch opening. The lengthwise body has a first surface and a second surface, a head region and a foot region.
A pouch portion is located in the head region of the lengthwise body and the couch portion has a front section and a back section. The front and back sections are connected at the extreme lateral edges and defined a chamber region. The pouch further having first and second lateral locations that are defined as opposite lateral sides of the longitudinal center line of the touch portion. The pouch portion further having a perimeter edge located on the back section where this edge is adapted to engage the back region of the chair. The first attachment strap having first and second ends attached respectively to the first and second lateral portions.
The chamber region of the pouch is adapted to fit around the upright portion of the chair where the second surface engages the chair and the perimeter edge is adapted to support fully engage the back region of the chair to keep the pouch portion remaining on the upright portion of the chair. The lengthwise body is adapted to successively folded and be positioned in the chamber region of the pouch portion to place the towel in a mobile configuration where the first attachment strap can be used to carry the towel. The successive folding includes any manner of folding the towel to reduce its net lengthwise length.
The invention further includes first and second laterally extending chambers adapted to house a drawstring. The first laterally extending chamber is located on the front portion of the pouch region. The perimeter edge of the pouch portion defines a second laterally extending chamber that is at a proximate longitudinal location to the first laterally extending chamber. The drawstring extends to the chambers to restrict the perimeter opening of the pouch region.